FLYING LOW: HOW TO GET THE BEST AIR FARE.

Byline: Diane H. Naughton The Washingtonian

Being a smart traveler used to mean having a smart travel agent. Now, with fare wars, cyberfares and low-fare airlines, there are many more ways to get a good price on a plane ticket.

Airlines frequently discount fares - for good reason.

``Airline seats are perishable commodities,'' says Paul Hyman, an industry consultant. When a plane takes off, any empty seats are lost revenue.

Airline number-crunchers follow ticket sales continually. If they see that seats aren't selling, Hyman says, ``they will move them into a different class of service with a lower fare.''

Then there's the fare war - bad news for airlines, but good news for passengers. A fare war usually starts with one airline firing the first shot in television, newspaper or radio ads, with others soon matching or undercutting the competition.

Tom Parsons, author of ``Insider Travel Secrets,'' recommends waiting 24 hours to 48 hours after those first ads appear before purchasing a ticket. Another airline could join the skirmish with an even better offer.

The advent of the low-fare airline has increased competition and reduced the price of a ticket. But not all low-fare airlines have assigned seating, meals or frequent-flier programs, experts warn - consider the whole package before jumping at a low ticket price.

Several airlines offer deeply discounted, last-minute fares only on the Internet. Most tickets are for weekend travel, leaving on a Saturday and returning on Sunday or Monday. Recently, for example, USAir offered an $89 round trip between Washington, D.C., and Boston, compared with a 21-day-advance fare of $138 or a regular last-minute fare of $360.

To learn of last-minute fares, contact Northwest Airlines (www.nwa.com), USAir (www.usair.com/esavers.htm), American Airlines (www2.amrcorp.com/cgi-bin/aans), Continental Airlines (www.flycontinental.com) or TWA (www.twa.com).

Some airlines advertise special fares exclusively on the Net. For example, El Al Israel Airlines (www.elal.co.il) offers once-a-month sales that are advertised only online.

You may find good deals and feel more in control booking travel through the Internet, but it takes time.

``It will take you three years to really understand the airline reservation system,'' warns Barbara Beyer, president of Avmark, an aviation-consulting firm. ``If you are serious about shopping the market, your best bet is still using a travel agent.''

Finding a good agent is key. Get references from people you know who travel a lot. For any agent you're considering, you might ask if the agent or agency is a member of an organization such as the American Society of Travel Agents. Ask how long the agent has been in the business and if he or she has ever been to the area where you're going.

If you're flexible with your travel plans and want the lowest fare, good agents will look at various carriers and dates. They will also watch ticket prices and notify you if a better fare becomes available.

There's another advantage to travel agents. ``People generally like to deal with human beings,'' says Steve Loucks of ASTA.

But not everyone is convinced that agents save you money.

``I don't think you can count on travel agents to get you the best fare,'' says Robert Krughoff, publisher of Washington Consumers' Checkbook. Two years ago, when his organization had shoppers test more than 100 area agencies, they got quotes ranging from $408 to $1,500 for a round-trip ticket between Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.

``If you really want the best deal,'' Krughoff says, ``use a number of travel agents or do some serious work yourself.''

If your travel agent suggests a consolidator ticket, especially for an international flight, you'll know that he or she is on the right track to a low fare.

Consolidators, or ``bucket shops,'' purchase blocks of unsold seats from airlines and resell them at big discounts to travel agents and consumers. Consolidator ads run in Sunday travel sections of major newspapers - they're the ones where you need a magnifying glass to read the print.

``There are some tremendous bargains,'' Beyer says, noting that first-class and business-class travel can be as much as 30 percent off.

Consolidator tickets are often nonchangeable and nonrefundable, and you must be flexible as to the dates you want to travel. You usually can't get frequent-flier miles or advance seating. But for international travel, consolidators can offer excellent values.

Some consolidators are fly-by-night operations, so you have to be wary, experts say. It's a good idea to book through a travel agent, who may know the reputations of various consolidators.

If you deal directly with a consolidator, make the reservation and then wait 24 hours to call the airline and make sure your name shows up in its system. Unscrupulous consolidators have been known to sell unconfirmed or wait-listed seats.

Do not pay anything until your reservation is confirmed by the airline or your travel agent, and when you do pay, use a credit card - credit-card companies can help with a refund if need be.

Charter flights also may be a bargain to certain destinations at certain times of the year. Charter flights are run mainly to tourist destinations such as Las Vegas, Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean. Operators rent a plane, or sections of one, from major airlines, then sell the seats themselves.

``The only advantage of a charter is if it's cheaper or it gives you nonstop service,'' says Ed Perkins, editor of Consumer Reports Travel Letter. ``Everything else is a disadvantage.''

Charters can be unreliable. Charter operators have the right to change or cancel a flight until 10 days before departure. Charters usually have long check-in lines and odd departure times. You do not earn frequent-flier miles and, if you miss your plane, you can't use the ticket on another flight or another airline.

Cancellation penalties can be stiff - as much as 100 percent of the ticket price.

Another opportunity involves what Parsons calls ``hidden-city fares,'' which are good for one-way trips only and take advantage of airline hubs.

Airfares to hubs are often higher than fares that route through hub cities, Parsons explains. If you need to fly from Miami to Pittsburgh, you may find that a ticket from Miami to Minneapolis, stopping in Pittsburgh, is cheaper. The disadvantage is that you cannot check luggage.

Although airlines consider such methods fraudulent, industry insiders remember only one case in which an airline took a passenger to court for ``creative ticketing,'' and there the passenger prevailed.

But airlines' opposition makes some travel agencies reluctant to get involved in creative ticketing.

Getting bumped from your flight, which can be a disaster for some fliers, can be a boon to others. By volunteering to give up your seat on an oversold plane, you get priority on the next available flight plus a free round-trip ticket or discount voucher to be used later. You may also be able to negotiate a free meal and a call home if the layover is several hours or more.

Although your chance of getting bumped is less than one in 500, there are ways to improve the odds, according to George A. Brown, author of ``The Airline Passenger's Guerrilla Handbook'' (Blakes Publishing Group, 1989).

``Choose the airline with the worst bumping record, at the most congested airport, at the most congested times,'' such as Mondays, Fridays and Sundays, advises Brown. Early-morning departures and early-evening arrivals are a good bet.

When you check in, you can fill out a slip to volunteer your seat, should the need arise, putting you at the front of the line. If you do give up a seat, make sure your new seat is not merely a standby.

Bumping statistics are a matter of public record, and can be obtained by calling the U.S. Department of Transportation at [phone].